Doctor Druid may be a student of the mystic arts, but that doesn’t mean that he walks a righteous path. This week on Marvel 101, follow the descent of Doctor Druid through life, death, and the afterlife.

Hawkeye: Fake Kate

Kate Bishop returns in HAWKEYE #10 on September 6—but something doesn’t seem quite right with our super sleuth. Kate learned that her father is in league with the tall, dark, and villainous woman known as Madame Masque—and if that wasn’t enough, her mom’s necklace just resurfaced with some oh-so-confusing evidence. Seems like no surprise that Kate is shaken up, but writer Kelly Thompson and artist Leonardo Romero worry something more might be going on.

“Listen, she’s not eating nearly enough tacos. She didn’t make finger guns once today. She doesn’t have any bandages on her face. She looked like she combed her hair and she’s wearing heels. Who is this person?!” confides Thompson. Word on the street even says Kate was out clubbing… so unless she’s secretly eradicating some illegal nightlife activities, something must be seriously wrong with our feisty female detective.

Detail of Events:

Between the drama with her dad, the bad guys, and new cases continually popping out of the woodwork, Kate has quite a lot on her plate. And while she might not have any trouble clearing a plate of mini donuts, a plate full of super hero-sized problems often proves a bit harder to swallow.

But Thompson ponders, “Kate does not run away from a fight. Kate runs headlong, full bore into any fight she sees for good or ill.” So when Kate doesn’t seem too interested in immediately running to the aide of her friends, she gets pretty concerned.

“The whole thing with Kate’s dad has really put her in a vulnerable position, where she’s a little angrier, a little less clear headed, and definitely feeling more guilty—especially as it relates to her friends,” recounts Thompson, after noticing Kate acting a bit uncharacteristically for a few issues now—putting herself in too much danger, making only a normal amount of jokes, and acting unusually with her friends. And now she’s becoming unexpectedly mischievous, explains Thompson, spilling the beans that Kate kisses multiple in issue #10. Expect things to get awkward and complicated—even by Kate’s standards. So is this dual persona just Kate’s way of dealing with recent difficult experiences or is something more sinister going on?

Actions Taken:

It looks like the task of making that discovery falls on you, True Believers! The tables have turned—Kate’s in the hot seat and we need to figure out what’s going on. What exactly should we look for?

“Did she put a frozen food of some kind on her face to reduce swelling? Did she get punched in the face a lot? Make one too many jokes so that it becomes uncomfortable for everyone? These are day-in-the-life for Kate Bishop—and if you don’t see them, maybe you should worry,” warns Thompson.

Additional Notes:

Be warned, there will be a lot to sift through in this investigation. “Expect Kate to confront her father on the biggest questions between them. Expect one of the Kate’s friends to make a lot of relationship trouble in her life. Expect Kate to kick many butts and Lucky to play a low-key pivotal roll in that. Expect Kate to go out with her friends and to have a very vintage, classic Hawkeye villain show up,” teases Thompson, who also adds that master artist Leonardo Romero provides some brilliantly-subtle visual clues to help us differentiate the pages where Kate’s acting normally—and the ones where she’s not quite herself.

Be the first to figure out what’s behind Kate’s strange demeanor with HAWKEYE #10, by Kelly Thompson and artist Leonardo Romero, on September 6!